1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor comprising a capacitor body of a structure where multiple internal electrode layers are laminated via dielectric layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The need for reducing the size and increasing the capacity of this type of multilayer ceramic capacitor is still high, and to satisfy this need, further thickness reduction of internal electrode layers and dielectric layers is inevitable. As the thickness of dielectric layers becomes increasingly thinner, however, the CR product (product of capacitance C and insulation resistance R) of the multilayer ceramic capacitor tends to drop. Note that the CR product is widely known as a value representing the characteristics of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, and generally the lower limit of CR product is set according to the nominal capacitance.
Patent Literature 1 below describes an invention that limits the grain size and volume ratio of the dielectric layer crystal contained in the dielectric layer whose thickness is 2.5 μm or less so as to prevent the CR product from dropping, but since accurately limiting the grain size and volume ratio of the dielectric layer crystal is difficult due to the limitations of the manufacturing method, drop in CR product may not be prevented as expected.